Strangers
by Pappillon
Summary: My writing for Bellow Diamond Week.
1. Pink Cloud

Blue Diamond had told her to be careful with her lightning. "You shocked me," she said, just as their lips separated.

"I don't know if I can help it." Yellow dared to touch her hip, fingers bunching up the fabric of her robes as her prints kneaded together. They stood so close to one another, toes keeping them at the edge of another kiss.

Even days later, Blue's scent stuck to her clothing.

"Well, you had better try." Their lashes partly locked together, and her plump lips caught the left side of Yellow's mouth. Blue held that position a while before releasing her, and her voice lowered with the hush of a secret. "I want to invite you to my bath, but I'm worried you're going to electrocute me."

Yellow paused. "I won't," she said, their gems nearly touching, and her gloved fingers stole a little more fabric.

"Are you shocking me on purpose then, if you control it so well?" Blue connected their lips again and drew out a little more of the other Diamond's electricity. She had her hands upon Yellow's shoulders, with her wrists upon her collarbones.

Occupied tongues took the place of a reply, and they separated shortly after that, duties driving them apart. Yellow currently sat in her private room, fingers laced together as she remained straight up within her chair, facing toward her large window and its colorful patch of space.

That day, a pink cloud of debris and light passed by, looking like spilled glitter with a speckling of stars behind it, like the lights of a vanity. The scene shined brightly enough so that Yellow could sit in the dark, but she herself glowed gently, like a faraway star.

Enough time had passed to put her just a few minutes from leaving to visit Blue. "You can come directly to my bath," she had said, when they were only millimeters apart. "I'll be waiting for you," her voice possessed that quality to it, when it became softer than normal. She spoke so that no one else could hear her, even though they had tucked themselves into a corner, and no one else was even around. Blue had put her own hands on Yellow's narrow hips, which she felt beneath her armor, and like that, she held her steady.

Something itched beneath her gloves, but Yellow did nothing to alleviate it. Nor did she take the single bead of sweat that slid from her temple to her chin. She sat in one place, motionless, until the boundary came between being exactly on time and a few moments late, at which point her Pearl entered the room.

"My Diamond," she stood right outside the door and saluted, "Your appointment with Blue Diamond is very soon," and she moved her curious gaze to the empress, still within her chair.

"Thank you, Pearl." Despite the update, the Diamond remained in her place for several long seconds, keeping her focus upon the cloud and the tip of her index finger between her teeth. Pearl stayed exactly in her place, before Yellow finally turned to her to say, "You're dismissed," at which point, she left and the empress stood.

Yellow warped her way to Blue Diamond's chambers, and appeared alone. No Pearls waited to greet her, and even the machines at certain points in the room remained largely silent, not even daring to hum for her.

Yellow surveyed Blue's main room, with its intricate carpet lounging in the center of the chamber, as well as all of her tapestries and age-old statues of goddesses no one worshipped any longer. Something inside her paused, when her attention caught upon the pink of an old authority crest, hanging in plain sight upon the wall.

Yet, in the absence of her own breath and in the stillness of the machines, the whispering of falling water beckoned to her, so quietly, from the hallway.

Something outside her consciousness moved her feet, despite the bizarre tingling beneath her leggings and the surge conquering the inside of her stomach. Still, Yellow shuffled onward in clothing that was about to come off, reaching the clean tiles and the water that went from whispering to speaking, beneath the gaze of a clear window and the same cloud visible from her own room.

Blue turned to look at her, stare weighty as ever, while her lips turned up at the edges. The whites of her eyes, however, retained a pinkness to them and her brows kept bent before she finally moved her attention back to the window as one of her ships passed by.

Blue sniffled and cleared her throat. "No one can see us here. You don't need to worry, Yellow."

"I assumed as much." She looked into space and even pinched the loose fabric at the wrist of her left glove. "Would you prefer if I—"

But at the sound of the question, Blue hit her with the full force of her melancholy and smeared mascara. The water around her moved in little waves of complaints and Yellow watched as her throat restarted itself to speak.

"No—" She wiped her eyes despite having wet hands. "I'd still like you to stay." Blue gulped and continued. "Are you feeling shy?"

"That may be a part of it," Yellow caught the pink in Blue's eyes again.

"I'm sorry," she swallowed and regarded the water. "I thought I might finally be ready to move on, at least in some way. She used to come here all the time, and I truly wanted you to come here too, but…" Blue cut herself off and hid behind a few locks of hair. "This morning, such pain took over me, and so many memories came back, but I didn't want to let you down. I've been trying to pull myself together…"

The cloud in the window dyed the air, as the water kept whispering. Above all of its tiny words, Yellow's voice echoed around the chamber, "Would you prefer I go?" despite having emerged more quietly than usual.

"No. Don't. I want you to stay, but I'm not sure I can make love with you." The diamonds in their eyes finally met up again. Blue shed a few tears without contorting her face. "When I invited you, I thought I was ready, but now that you're truly here, I don't know how I feel. Aside from the sadness, I've been shaking, a lot like the first time. You must think I'm an idiot."

"I don't think you're an idiot, Blue, even though I wish you wouldn't say such stupid things."

The empress cracked a smile. "Stars, you're such a bitch. Maybe that's what I like about you, Yellow. You don't remind me of her at all."

The golden goddess raised an eyebrow. "And you call me a bitch?"

"I'm sorry." Blue turned a few degrees closer to her direction, and rubbed her eyes again. "Why don't you join me?"

Yellow lingered, until Blue rose from the waters of her bath. She towered with all of her lovely curves, not attempting to hide any part of herself. The guest didn't look away from her, but her cheeks filled with gold as the steam from the bath seemed to cloud over her normally clear eyes.

A gulp passed along her long neck, as she came to admit, "I've never shown another gem my body before."

"I didn't suspect you had." Blue took a few steps closer as Yellow's throat dried. "Should I help you?"

"I think I can handle it."

"Alright." Blue watched Yellow's shy shimmering in the calm lights before turning away and returning to her spot. She moved her focus to the window and its sparkling pink cloud as the steam rolled in waves around her and Yellow removed her clothing. Within a few seconds, her armor had disappeared in a series of lights, as well as her boots, until the warm air surrounded her bare skin and the golden naked goddess approached the water.

Even as the other Diamond submerged herself to the knees, Blue didn't turn to face her. Only when they sat side by side did those sad eyes return to Yellow's face, and her hand slipped atop her guest's.

Slowly, Blue kissed her cheek, lashes brushing lightly across her skin as they so often did, and there was a point where words almost left her mouth. The weight that surrounded her seemed furtive enough to produce _something_ , but Blue held it inside herself instead, coming to brush a few of her fingertips against Yellow's slender neck.

The guest shut her lids as the other's hand slid downward and traced the face of her gem, eventually cupping one of her little breasts.

Finally, Blue spoke, "How is that?"

"It's fine. I thought you said you weren't ready."

"I'm just touching you." Her middle and index finger teased Yellow's nipple, squeezing it in between the first knuckles. Blue accomplished this without looking at the other empress's chest. Rather, she shut her eyes and worked on tasting Yellow's lips, trailing the nails of her other hand between her shoulder blades and along her back.

"Tell me if it gets to be too much." Her teeth ghosted along Yellow's cheek and the golden goddess shuttered. "I don't want you shocking me."

"I'll do my best—" But Blue stole her tongue and sucked upon it, causing her partner to release a gasp that nearly conformed to a sigh. Yellow leaned her head back and furrowed her brows, eventually weaving her fingers inside Blue's hair.

Their kiss deepened while one of those curious hands moved along Yellow's body. It found her other breast and upon rolling its nipple between prints, moved downward to the guest's stomach and eventually came to rest upon her hip.

Their mouths split apart and Blue spoke, "You're so slender," and moved her touch to the top of the other's thigh. Instead of resuming their kiss, she placed their faces side by side and brought their bodies closer, until Blue's curves and heavy breasts overcame Yellow's straight lines.

The golden goddess said nothing and opened her legs. Without waiting for her partner to respond, she took Blue's wrist and moved her palm between her thighs, and with very few seconds having passed, received two fingers between her lips. Yellow pulled her lover's hair, expelling another voiceless breath and then a grunt.

Blue turned to glance beneath the waves as she moved her digits in and out, stroking her prints across the other Diamond's G-spot as Yellow squeezed around her and drew their forms even closer. Their foreheads touched, and each time Yellow's boundaries expanded with a sharp, deep breath, the space between them decreased.

"How does that feel?"

"Don't stop—" Their gems touched, and Yellow released a moan as those fingers sank in again. "Harder—!"

Blue bit her lover's long neck and held on, even as she arched her back, moving her hand with more speed and power, causing another cry to burst from Yellow's lips. They held one another closer, clutching and nearly scratching with deadly nails, until Blue went to add another finger. The moment the third digit pushed inside Yellow, a light burst forth from her gem and her whole body seemed to contract around Blue's hand. She clenched her teeth and clutched the other Diamond, catching her breath after a grunt and a gasp.

The author of her pleasure didn't let her guest go. Instead, Yellow relaxed around her and seemed to lose some fragment of her consciousness, but still held on lest she slip into the water and drown.

Blue didn't speak but left a few slow kisses against Yellow's cheeks, her neck, and her shoulder, supporting her as the other Diamond gained her composure.

"Blue."

The cloud and its tint hadn't gone away, and beneath its glow, Blue Diamond began to quiver. She gasped in a breath and held it, as the scent of saltwater came not from the bath, but from her.

Yellow managed to hold her more tightly. "We got carried away."

"No," with one hand, she wiped her tears. "It's not your fault."

The guest didn't say anything to that, but touched her lover's cheeks with a few kisses. The hand that wove itself into the strands of her hair now caressed the same area and their mouths shortly fell into full contact.

Blue had to stop every few seconds to breathe, but for a few minutes, they made out with swollen tongues and supported one another from sinking deeper into the water.

Though, when they stopped, they separated for good and embraced one another beneath the soft light of space. Eventually, Yellow left Blue with a kiss upon the cheek and a lingering glance at the door, once she had phased off her water and her clothing back on. Blue didn't turn to her as she walked away, and ended up remaining in the same place within the pink air for another hour. Even then, her Pearl had come to fetch her with a message, and she had no choice but to get out.


	2. Sunflower

Both empresses sat in a field of flowers, wearing their casual clothes, and weaving their fingers together. The sky above burned in an array of pastels and each exhaled in unison as the blue transitioned to purple and became pink.

"Thanks for coming to visit me."

"Of course, Pink." Blue leaned over to kiss her, and the peace around them resumed. "I would do anything for you."

They had been sitting there quite a while, crushing several of the blooms beneath them. Sometimes a breeze might pass through. The sky would darken by a few degrees, but they remained where they sat, with Blue regarding Pink and Pink regarding the canvas around them that they, too, were a part of.

Pink's profile possessed a pleasing shape. Blue traced the plumpness of her lips and the slope of her nose several times in her mind, always getting caught in her thick lashes and the stars raining from her wide eyes like a shower of light.

"Isn't this planet cool?" Her voice came out around a mild gasp and she held Blue's hand a little harder. "Everything is always changing colors, or changing shapes, or getting bigger or smaller. Even the rocks and the dirt change over time…"

Blue took a moment to reply, as the sun sank further beneath the blanket of the horizon and the colors transitioned to deep purple. "It is interesting," she said and leaned closer to the other Diamond.

"I wish we could stay like this forever."

"Oh, Pink."

"I'm serious," those eyes full of shooting stars and potent glitter hit Blue at full power. "I'm so happy right now. Even though everything keeps moving and changing, I feel so—"

The elder Diamond connected their lips and Pink fell back into the flowers beneath her, giggling, even with Blue's tongue in her mouth. The flavor of Pink's laughter set something clicking to life in Blue's stomach. It tingled its way to the folds of her fingers and to the tips of her toes until her cheeks grew warm and her voice released a little moan.

But Pink just kept laughing, sighing when Blue placed her hands upon her chest and giggling even more when she wrapped her legs around the other Diamond. Blue began shaking too, beneath the influence of her own joy. Almost as if replying, she wrapped her arms around Pink, and they drowned in the wells of one another's mouths, rolling around like desperate, laughing fools in the dark of the night.

Blue Diamond observed the navy of deep space, her fingertips cold against her control room window. She breathed in painfully measured counts as her communicator rang in the background. Yellow light reflected against the glass, but Blue didn't move, nor did she regard it. Her attention had already fixed itself into the stars well in the background.

"My Diamond—" her Pearl said.

"Oh," Blue turned slowly and received the device, which burned the shadows from beneath her eyes with its rays. Within the forming hologram, Yellow appeared and Blue wiped her cheeks with the ends of her long sleeves.

"Did I call at a bad time?"

"No—" Blue swallowed and cleared her throat. "No, it's fine. What is it?"

The Diamond on the other end paused, hitting Blue with the hard sunshine of her unwavering stare. "Well," she said, "I wanted to confirm that you are free tomorrow."

"I am," and Blue choked a little more, but the water in her eyes never formed another tear. "Why?"

"I have the day off too and thought you might like to spend it together."

Blue's mouth popped while her brows bent.

" _What is that look?_ "

"It's nothing," her sleeves wiped along her cheek bones again, and Blue continued. "I suppose I'm just surprised. You don't normally ask me out."

"Well—" For once, Yellow's wild eyes broke contact. "Seeing as how our schedules are both free, it seemed the best time. It's been awhile since we've had a conversation outside of work."

"Alright, Yellow." Blue shifted beneath her veil. "Why don't we leave Homeworld? I've been meaning to go to one of my colonies for a break."

"That sounds perfect. I'll see you tomorrow, Blue."

Yellow nearly hung up before the other Diamond told her to wait. "You should dress informally."

"Informally?"

"Yes. I'd like to see what you look like in a sundress. See you then."

It was Blue who then hung up, and handed the device back to her Pearl. She turned her face to the window, covered partially by her veil, and searched deep in the stars for answers. They never came, but it didn't stop her from looking.

Some time passed. Tomorrow came and Blue hadn't moved much.

Messages came to her on her device that she answered, but time ultimately rolled by in boring waves. Duty moved the fingers of her hand to answer them, but deep space sat well inside her skull, where she connected the dots into lines that formed occasional letters, but never words.

Through it all, she dressed. Her veil grew a few golden flowers and her lips darkened. Yellow Diamond came to her exactly five minutes before their meeting time, and they stood in Blue's living room, facing one another while their Pearls made tea in the background.

The golden woman had come wearing a sundress—one without serious geometric shoulder pads or her normal straight and crisp lines. It hung like something Blue might wear, long and loose at the bottom while the top didn't bother hiding her slender arms or her sharp shoulders the pads normally obscured.

Now she covered them with hands uncensored by elbow-length gloves. Blue looked at their pointed angles, where her knuckles rose and her fingers fell, glancing at skin she rarely saw when Yellow was dressed.

She looked cute, with her thick crooked lips and the gold flooded her cheeks. Perhaps she had decorated them; perhaps her organs boiled on the inside.

"Yellow, you look lovely. I've never seen you dress like that."

"It took me a long time to settle on it."

She took note of the flowers blooming on Blue's veil. "These are a nice touch." Her fingers pinched some of the loose fabric and graced a few petals.

"Thank you," unconsciously, Blue gulped. Her lashes fluttered. She touched Yellow's hand. "Well, are you ready to go?"

"Certainly."

Blue collected her enormous thermos full of dark tea, and took Yellow with her to the warp pad. They held hands as the light swallowed them and exchanged small glances, saying nothing. Eventually, both ended up within a field of pink flowers on an otherwise empty planet, with the backdrop of a darkening sky full of purple clouds and loud stars.

Blue grasped Yellow's hand as they arrived, and was first to step off the warp pad. The other Diamond, meanwhile, studied the never-ending field, all the way to where the planet curved and the plants had become an impressionist painting of pink and green.

"What are we supposed to do here?" Yellow asked.

"We sit and relax," Blue answered.

"I don't know why we would need to come here to do that. We could have just as easily stayed on Homeworld."

"We _could_ have, but now we're here, so come sit with me, Yellow."

Blue pulled her by the hand, stepping from the smooth, crystalline surface of the warp and into the uneven field of stems and blossoms. Through it, their shoes made a path, until Blue sat down and Yellow joined her, and both regarded the sky.

It wasn't long however, before Yellow had seen enough and turned to Blue.

"Are we really just supposed to sit here?"

"Yes. We really are _just_ supposed to sit here. Look at the sky, think of nothing, or of everything, or we could talk." Blue granted Yellow her attention and gave her hand a squeeze. To that, the other Diamond shut her lips a little more tightly and turned away from Blue, into the green, into the pink, into the clouds, into the stars. Despite having their hands connected, Yellow moved around. She shifted her legs, leaned further back, then further forward, crossed one foot over the other, chewed up her mouth again, sighed.

She sighed a lot.

And Blue, between looking at the flowers and the sky, and taking sips of tea, studied Yellow.

She had toned down her eyeliner. Her hair didn't make its points as strictly. Even her long neck seemed less regal and pluckier by the lack of her shoulder pads. There was even something youthful there, despite the wrinkles the golden woman knotted inside her brow, or the creases she drew around her modest scowl.

She resembled a sunflower, and once Yellow twitched in the breeze again, and Blue caught the top of her wild, but organized hair, something grew inside her throat, like a leaf tickling her vocal chords.

Of course, tears came to her eyes.

She disconnected her hand from Yellow's to cover her face.

The weeping began, as it normally did, with no clear cause. Sometimes Blue would be doing nothing of merit at all, and it would pass over her like a violent wave, hole-punching fat tears onto her cheeks. Yellow would normally say something. She might roll her eyes, sigh, scold Blue or any combination of the three.

This time, through Yellow's normal heatwave of a stare, Blue didn't hear her voice, nor did she catch an exhale. Even with her back turned to the woman, Blue would normally feel her eyes rolling, as if her action flipped a switch in Blue's veins, but that intrinsic snap of the fingers that would usually turn her around never happened, and Yellow instead set her hand upon Blue's shoulder.

"Did I upset you?"

"No," her sound wobbled beneath the tears. "This is none of your doing—"

Yellow's arm remained where it was, squeezing Blue's shoulder and a few of the golden blooms set upon it. Her cute sundress shifted as she drew closer. Blue nearly felt her words as she spoke, "I want you to know," and her pause when she stopped and started again, "that I would do anything for you."

Her voice didn't retain the edge it normally did. Yellow softened her hard corners, and even though she kept staring, Blue didn't bleed by her points.

Even though she ended up crying harder.

Yellow held her. She followed the path that lead her arms beneath her veil and settled their faces together. Their gems practically touched.

For a long time, Blue grasped Yellow back. They kissed one another's cheek and remained still, as the night grew darker and the moon brighter, until they could hardly see one another.

Blue ended the embrace with a pat to Yellow's back. "Thank you," she said, and shortly after both Diamonds ended up walking back, following the undeniable golden light projected from Yellow's gem. She cut through the flowery darkness with her heart and guided Blue home.


	3. Song

All three stood around the room, still, like the monuments erected of them. They nearly formed a triangle with how they were placed. Yellow looked at White and Blue looked at Yellow, but White looked at no one, having given up upon her chair and staring at the floor. The clear parts of her eyes had grown pink around the edges, as well as the expanse of her cheeks. Each part of her expression sagged, and wild hair that she had usually trimmed and controlled branched out past its usual points.

"So, is this it?" Yellow spoke, digging into the eldest of them with a glare like claws. "You're just going to leave?"

White gulped and produced a few more tears, but she couldn't meet her accuser.

"Why? _Because it's hard?_ You just can't _take it anymore?_ What kind of Diamond are you? _What about your gems?_ "

"Yellow, stop it."

"No!" She took a hard turn toward Blue. "If she's so insistent on leaving, she had better have a _damn_ good reason! We're already out one Diamond and now she's trying to saddle us both with enough work for four! Do you remember how many colonies she has?!" Yellow then placed her focus upon White, who only moved in wiping beneath her nose. "Let's hear it. What's the reason you're abandoning your gems? Why are you abandoning _us?_ "

Slowly, White warmed up her lips and after a gulp, spoke, "After corrupting all of those gems—"

"Most of them were traders!"

" _But all of them were mine!_ "

They finally looked at one another.

"I don't want to do this anymore," White began to cry anew and reflected a rainbow from her gem in turning away. All the while, Yellow stared, not bothering to prevent the sneer warping her lips. "If things can be so horrible, I don't want to rule. I never want to repeat what I've done."

For a moment, neither Blue nor Yellow spoke. Neither moved. They merely watched as White cried and cried. It wasn't long, however, before Yellow moved closer, until they were centimeters apart, and said between clenched teeth, "If you think things are bad now, you're not going to believe how awful they're going to be if you leave. If you intend on abandoning your court— _your_ gems, your fellow _Diamonds_ , you had better go and never come back. Because if I ever see your face again, I don't know what I'll be liable to do."

White gasped and replied, "Fine. I've made up my mind. I guess I'll never come back."

The final word had left her mouth and Yellow grasped her by the highest point of her hair, ripped her from the seat, and threw her to the floor. White screamed; Blue screamed, and Yellow released some of her lightning. It set fire to a few patches of the carpet and White's cape, but before any of them could speak, Yellow left the room, leaving Blue to come and put out White's outfit and sooth the raw skin of her scalp.

She ended up going to a planet in a galaxy far away from Homeworld. They had found it millennia ago, rotating in the fourth position away from its star, nearly barren aside from several craters and pale dust. Despite these features, however, it was of decent size and pleasant temperature, and held a lovely view of all the stars around them.

White had taken the closest members of her court—her Pearls, her guards, her sapphires and a few others to this planet where there were neither warp pads nor surroundings. She had her Bismuths build a palace and erect a force field to blast away the meteors, and there, within the never-ending silence of multicolored space, White lived in retirement.

One day, she stood within her music room, singing an old song in an ancient language as two Pearls played from their instruments. The Diamond filled her body with air and turned it to audible gold and delicate high notes. Her voice slipped into them as though she slid her elegant hands through silken gloves, and the sound poured from her in smooth waves that echoed around the room, packaged in beauty. She never seemed to run out of air, like a star lighting the sky, or the way her gem flashed a thousand colors any time she moved her head.

Once White had finished her song, she received a round of applause from her attending Pearls, one of which spoke immediately, "My Radiant, Lustrous, Glorious, Fabulous, Talented, Well-read Diamond, Madame Sapphire has predicted that Blue Diamond will come to visit you very soon."

"Blue Diamond? I wonder why she didn't call first. Did Sapphire mention if she'll stay for long?"

"She didn't, Your Luminosity."

"Very well, then." White adjusted her long and loose skirts by running her hands over them. A lacy collar grew around her neck, and her outfit frothed as it became more refined. Stretching out her arms, White said, "Pearls, would you mind preparing some tea for us?"

"Certainly, Your Clarity."

"We had a lovely practice today. Very well done, everyone."

Her Pearls replied in unison, "Thank you, My Glittering, Sparkling, Wondrous, Fashionable Diamond," and started right for the kitchen to put on the tea.

The empress went to her leisure room, and began to pick up the yellowed sheets of music left upon the table, as well as rearrange the pillows on the sofa. They had slumped over and weighed unevenly in their obesity, having grown indents where White Diamond had put her head and elbows. With her considerate long-nailed hands, she fluffed them and set them back into place, and sat in the center of the couch. Not one part of her body touched them as her attention wandered towards the window, where the stars arranged themselves into words and images from the past that played out as if the gem on her forehead projected them.

Three-fourths of the walls were glass, but White had still hung pictures upon the one that wasn't. Many of the multicolored frames held photographs of her subjects, such as her Pearls standing and posing together, or the picture of her two Agates she had taken with both of them beaming into the camera. White had posted images of all the gems that lived with her upon the one solid wall, and given their color, were speckled like stars around the old paintings of the other three Diamonds. Like pretty galaxies with their various colors, they stood out in rich pigments and specific detail. The artist had made their eyes shine with metallic paint—something White caught when she turned around briefly to take her knitting from underneath the sofa.

But as soon as she secured one of her enormous needles, the door came open and a Pearl announced, "Presenting Madame Blue Diamond, Your Purity."

"Oh—" White sat straight up to regard her guest, taking her hand from her great ball of string. "Welcome, Blue." She stood and came to the other Diamond, outstretching her arms. "How was your journey?"

Blue filled in White's embrace and received several kisses upon the cheek as soon as the eldest empress had her. "Oh, White—" She returned the gesture, touching just beneath the ivory woman's right eye. "I hope that you'll forgive me for not calling ahead. I realized how long it had been and I wanted to see you."

"Of course," White gave her a squeeze before releasing her, but placed her hands upon her guest's shoulders. "You're always welcome here. Please, come sit. My Pearls are preparing some tea for us."

"Thank you."

Both Diamonds sat upon the sofa together, crushing the pillows waiting on either side as a silence commenced. Neither spoke to fill it, and while White set her palm upon Blue's knee, the other empress unveiled her tired eyes.

"You'll have to forgive me," Blue started, "I don't know why I came here, other than wanting to see you. I'm not sure what to talk about. Certainly, this must seem odd."

"Not at all," White took her unintentionally intense eyes from Blue. "I was just thinking about the both of you, and I wondered how you were. Has Yellow…" White began her sentence, but paused halfway through it, as if wading through heavy sludge. "Has she forgiven me?"

Blue furrowed her brows.

"I'm sure she never mentions me, does she?"

Still, the guest said nothing.

"I've wanted to come visit. I miss Homeworld. As boring as it is here, she couldn't let me retire _there_." White looked into space from the well-polished windows and didn't turn back for several seconds. "But how is she? I do worry about her." The fingers White had set around her guest's knee squeezed a little, and both pairs of diamond-shaped pupils finally aligned.

"She keeps herself busy. I don't think she ever stops working unless it's to visit me, and even then, it takes a lot to get her relaxed. She came to my bath recently—"

White raised an eyebrow and Blue stopped talking, cheeks flooding with pigment while the eldest Diamond placed her hand delicately upon her chest.

"What is that face for?"

"Your bath?" White's lips took up a crooked and playful shape. "I thought Pink only ever went there, and things might become…"

Before Blue could speak, White kept talking. "Well, it's nothing to be ashamed of. I promise, I'm not trying to make you feel embarrassed. I suppose I'm just taken aback." Her face burned grey with steamy implications. "She's admired you a long time. Can I ask, how was it?"

"We didn't get very far. She told me she had never been with another gem before."

White blinked, "Well, I'm not sure who she would have ever been with. You were practically taped to Pink and she's never been interested in me."

Just then, the doors opened and the Pearls wheeled in two enormous cups of hot tea upon separate push carts. The steam drifted from the near rose-colored drink and obscured the servant's faces as they approached the Diamonds.

"Thank you, Pearls," White took her cup, as did Blue, and both of them bowed only to leave more quickly and quietly than they came.

The eldest empress blew away some of the steam as her colorful nails scraped past the vibrant flowers painted upon the porcelain.

Once the doors whispered shut, and the room emptied of foreign ears, White Diamond took a sip and spoke more softly than normal, "It may feel odd, to be with Yellow in a romantic sense."

Blue stared deep into her cup of tea, not yet taking a sip, and allowed the steam to obscure some parts of her face. Within the liquid, she observed the bags beneath her eyes and the crinkles she made along her forehead, finally admitting, "I feel as though I'm betraying…"

"I don't think you should."

A silence passed where neither Diamond looked at one another, but gave their attention to the volume of the surrounding space. The stars lined up a thousand different ways and both took it in for a few moments, until finally having enough and studying the finite depth of the rose-colored tea.

"I don't know, White. As demanding as she is sometimes, Yellow keeps me from becoming lonesome. She worries about me, and I appreciate that. In a lot of ways, she's all I have and is so resilient, but sometimes their bodies are just too similar, and all of the memories come back in a rush. It's overwhelming, and I feel…" Blue trailed off and never came back.

"If Pink were still with us, you would consider it infidelity, but given the unfortunate circumstances, I don't think you should allow any guilt to tarnish your relationship with Yellow. Even if you find yourself wildly in love with her, it will never take away the time you've shared with Pink." White took another sip and ran her finger over a rose.

"I can't deny that she cares for me." Finally, Blue drank. "There are many things I admire about her. Sometimes I catch her at such an angle, and she looks so beautiful, and other times, she'll be so caught up with her work she doesn't pay any mind to what she looks like at all, and there's something charming about that." Most of the steam had bled away and those sad eyes regarded themselves. "But sometimes these feelings are so familiar, and it seems I need them as desperately as I want to push them away."

White touched her shoulder. "I'm not sure there's a cure for that, but I would suggest giving it time." Her fine brows bent. "I don't think you can do anything else."

"I only wish the pain would stop."

"Oh, Blue." White set down her tea and wrapped her arms around the other Diamond, holding her near, despite the fact that Blue still held her cup carefully in her right hand. With the other, she wiped the heavy tears from her face and used it to drape over the elder's shoulder. Their cheeks touched and White Diamond squeezed the younger one until she stopped crying, having spilled a few fat droplets of tea upon her floor.

They separated with a kiss to Blue's cheek.

White caught her free hand inside both of hers. "When I feel horrible, I try to sing. It usually helps. Shall we do a duet? We rarely see one another anymore."

A smile warped the sad corners of Blue's mouth. "You would always sing when you were happy too, if I remember correctly."

"Well, when I'm happy I want to sing, and when I'm sad, I want to be happy, so I sing anyway." The ex-empress grinned. "You had to have guessed I would want to sing with you when you came here."

"Of course." Blue wiped the last of her tears and gave into the upward curve of her lips.

"Well, come along. I'm already warmed up." White stood up from the sofa and placed one fabulous hand upon her hip, outstretching the other for Blue. "Finish your tea and I'll warm you up too."

The two ended up going together to White's music room, and copied the notes the eldest empress played. Her fingers commanded the keys and Blue met them with her voice, until both of them came to singing several duets together, as White played her instrument in unison.

Blue stayed for a long time, until so many hours had passed that she couldn't spend any longer. She left with White walking her to the ship and nearly clinging to her embrace, but the original queen finally returned to her secluded palace and Blue drove back to all her responsibilities before Yellow began to wonder.


	4. Empires

"Can you believe there's going to be another Diamond?"

White had opened the screen to show Yellow where they had found her growing. A set of mountains surrounded a stretch of empty land where a few gems had emerged already. Holes occurred here and there, haphazardly, like a bunch of random, shot-down corpses, outlined in chalk.

"We don't know what color she'll be yet," White continued, "Since none of us planted her ourselves, we won't know until she emerges, but she's sure to be lovely, and my gemologists tell me she'll be ready soon."

A few workers appeared and poked at the scenery, checking the sensors and recording a few notes. They had already marked a few places in chalk and marked a few more, drawing x's on various points upon the ground.

"What color were the other gems that emerged in that area?"

"They were blue," White turned to answer, an elegant hand upon her chest and a smile turning her lips. "I'm hoping for a Blue Diamond, but anything could happen." She watched the screen again, as the workers motioned to one another. After a few moments, her eyes watered and she blinked her big, long lashes to prevent the tears from spilling over. "I remember when I first found out about you. We suspected you were going to be Yellow. No one was certain there was ever going to be another Diamond, but it looks like there is." White wiped the corners of her eyes and pulled in a small gasp. "I'm so glad there will be more of us."

"You're always so emotional."

The workers had seemed to draw a circle in chalk x's over an enormous area that flashed from numerous cameras. From so far overhead that those little gems appeared as specks, their chalk markings had become an uneasy drawing of a circle and the camera still couldn't capture the entire area of this alleged Diamond's potential emergence.

Yellow removed her own hand from her chest when White embraced her.

"Can you imagine?" The original empress's strength popped all the joints in Yellow's body. "Another Diamond…"

Yellow held her back.

From that day forward, the marks grew across that stretch of terrain. The crude circle grew less so, and updates came more frequently. If the new Diamond caused a quake, White was always the first to know, and Yellow was the first to hear from her. In a rhythm, she sent out waves of energy they measured religiously. This new Diamond beat like a heart beneath all of those layers of rock. Sometimes she caused the body of Homeworld to quiver.

"She's practicing," White told Yellow, "for when she has to emerge. Eventually, all of these waves will occur extremely close together, and she'll come out. You were early," she added. "I think you grew tired of waiting. You wanted to get to work," she paused to look at the screen they had both regarded for a while. "I'm sorry I missed it. Hopefully we can both watch her emerge this time. The gemologists are better at predicting now than they were a few thousand years ago." Her lips rolled as she set her chin over the knuckles of her left hand. "I can't believe she's coming so soon. How exciting."

In the clamor, White had set up a chamber for this Diamond, which she had commissioned in blue. Despite there being no real way of knowing, the empress said she was almost certain and if she were dead wrong, they would simply tear the entire thing down and start again. With each new feature that went into her room, she sent stronger and faster waves, until the ground shook too often for the scientists to stand on, and they had to leave the sensors and do their research from afar.

The suspected day kept coming. White Diamond had selected a first colony to give her, and days had passed after that. White had prepared a plaque for her door, but the Diamond heart didn't beat as fast anymore. White had travelled to the spot, dressed in her tallest heels and her most elaborate cape, to stomp upon the ground.

"Come on. Have we made you nervous?" She used her foot like a fist would knock upon a door. "Yellow and I are dying to meet you, so won't you please come out?"

But she didn't, and White had no other choice but to throw up her freshly manicured hands and wait in the comfort of her throne room, where the updates arrived directly.

In the privacy of her chambers or her control room, Yellow would watch as well. Between answering messages, reading reports and issuing edicts, she would pull up the program that monitored the ground above the supposed Blue Diamond. Every so often her heart would beat. On the bottom right corner of the screen, the sensors reported the strength of her quaking and the intervals. Sometimes many hours on Homeworld would pass between tremors; sometimes the wait stretched on for days.

Regardless, Yellow sat, with the cold light shining over her face from her machine. She laced her fingers together and placed her palms against her stomach. 'Blue' Diamond would beat again. Yellow would roll up her lips and White might call, because she was watching too.

Eventually, a dark night fell. The rose-tinted sky buckled under the pressure of a black pall of heavy clouds and much of Homeworld grew still. Even with gems still at work, the planet held a silence.

Yellow heard time tick by, like individual grains of sand falling one by one into the base of an hourglass, through the gentle mumbling of her computer. Her fingers pressed the keys in a rhythm and the surrounding silence nearly lured her to sleep.

Just when she had finished reading one mission report and had opened another, the doors slammed open and White Diamond spilled through them. Her breathing occurred rigidly around her words, which she expelled between sharp intakes of air.

"Is she emerging?" Yellow had sat straight up in her chair.

"Yes—" White waved her over with a decorated hand. "Let's go! She's just started, but it won't be long—"

Without any more words, one Diamond followed the other until they had run to the warp pad just outside Yellow's control room and held each other the entire way to the unlikely kindergarten. In the light of the warp, White had fastened Yellow to her, swallowing the other empress not only in her embrace, but the fabulous outfit she had put on just for the occasion. No doubt she had phased on parts of it while running to Yellow, like the extravagant collar the younger currently had her face shoved into.

When they arrived to the vantage point, high above the ground, both Diamonds linked hands. They watched as the ground well beneath them undulated and cracked in enormous waves. The dirt frothed, flipped up violently only to crash back down in a spray of rocks and fragments.

The ground sank in and came back up, turning more and more to loose sand with every contraction. An announcement came through on the loud speakers and White Diamond crushed Yellow's fingers.

"Attention: a large gem is emerging. Do not be alarmed. The quaking will be over momentarily…"

With her unoccupied hand, White wiped her eyes. "Oh, Yellow…" She swallowed her tears as the ground endured another series of cracks and an eruption of dirt. "I'm elated we were able to watch this time."

It took a moment for Yellow to turn her head back to the window, where the land beneath them had turned to crumbs. It shook around like sand in a sifter. Despite White's grip, Yellow didn't look away. Both of them leaned more closely to the window as the ground contracted and spattered one last time.

Everything grew still.

And from Homeworld's crust stood an enormous blue gem. Beyond the crater, she tripped upon the gravel and fell onto her new, naked knees, confused, searching, and crying.

White finally let go of Yellow's hand. "I'm going to get her." She was crying too.

Yellow Diamond didn't move from the window. She stared past her own reflection as White appeared from the corner of the scene, to the center, where the moments-old Blue Diamond waited, tears leaking down her face without her seeming to notice them.

Blue saw White well before she approached. The newest Diamond scrambled to her feet, put out her hands and dyed the air around her, causing White to cry even more than she had walking to her.

White said something, probably telling Blue not to fear. They were both Diamonds. Welcome to Homeworld. We're so happy to have you.

Even though the wave had faded, White continued collecting her tears.

Blue stopped crouching like an animal poised to attack and stood up straight. All of her beautiful white hair fell around her shoulders and White came closer, nearly tripping on the loose ground in her slender heels. The eldest of them put her arms out and eventually came near enough to capture Blue inside them. Slowly, she settled their bodies together.

You're just lovely, White probably said. Your gems are going to love you, and how did your hair get so soft? Mine is so coarse.

The young Diamond touched White's locks, and the old woman laughed.

Let's take you inside. That's what White told Yellow upon finding her the first time. Just like she had all of those thousands of years ago, White removed her cape and wrapped Blue inside it, so the other gems wouldn't see her voluptuous curves or her pretty breasts, or her long, naked legs. Leading her by the hand, White took her back up the ramp and Yellow watched from the window. She graphed their movement even after both disappeared inside the hooded staircase, and waited for them to walk to the door.

After a few seconds, it opened.

White lead and Blue followed, so fresh she still had soil upon her shoulders.

"Yellow—" the eldest empress said, "This is Blue. Isn't she beautiful?"

Blue locked their eyes together and Yellow never looked away.

"I'm Blue Diamond," a sad and soft voice came from her plump and pouty lips.

"I'm Yellow. It's nice to meet—"

She had put her hand out to shake, but Blue embraced her instead, trapping the arm she extended between their stomachs as their chest-set gems nearly touched. Blue held her firmly. Some part of her tresses brushed so softly against Yellow's cheek that it turned golden.

She could practically feel every part of her beneath White's thin cape that functioned as a blanket.

Blue made her body grew warm, and to smell the new Diamond's saltwater caused her to boil beneath every part of her outfit, until steam threatened to leak from the corner of her eyes. But Yellow held her breath. She sucked the tears from her ducts, and hugged Blue back.

Queen goddess, White, smiled benevolently in the background, and eventually came to hold them both.


	5. The Veil

Blue Diamond fit easily into the Authority, and like she had with Yellow, White instructed her over the course of her first thousand years. All three attended meetings together, where they would plan and oftentimes chat. Occasionally, Blue would turn to Yellow when she felt her gaze against her profile, brows knit with curiosity in her eyes. Yellow would always turn away, bringing her attention back to White, who normally continued speaking about the given topic.

Blue caught Yellow frequently from the corners of her eyes and from the tingling of her skin. Her golden irises tended to leave a burning sensation wherever they lingered, and sometime between her robes beginning to sizzle and combusting into flames, Blue would typically turn around.

"You're so intense, Yellow," she would say. "If I knew any better, I'd say you were staring at me."

"Well, what do you want me to do?" She replied sharply. The woman always had an edge. "I can't help but glance at you at least sometimes. You're walking in front of me."

"I don't know what that I want you to _do_ anything, necessarily. I'm just not sure you even realize it yourself."

Blue stopped, but Yellow kept progressing, until they stood side by side.

"You know," the younger Diamond began, "I've been watching White all this time, but I'm curious about how you rule your colonies, Yellow. She's even admitted to me how efficient you are." Blue came closer, as if speaking a secret. "I think I could benefit from watching you, if you wouldn't mind. Perhaps we could arrange something."

"I'll do anything, if you think it will help."

Blue smiled. "It's a lot to remember, isn't it? I don't know that there's a more overwhelming position on all of Homeworld, and yet, both of you have more colonies than I do."

Yellow continued forward. "I'm sure you'll get the hang of it."

"Thank you, Yellow. That means a lot to me."

Not long after, Blue shadowed Yellow for a short amount of time. In her sparse and utilitarian control room, Blue stayed and watched at her side as Yellow clacked at her computer and answered messages. In her temporary throne, the youngest took notes and spoke to Yellow occasionally, received an answer about a matter, and recorded it.

Sometimes a gem would come in to speak to her Diamond. Already shaking, she would begin to quake even more at the sight of Blue.

A moment always expired with the little gem's arms crossed over her chest. It usually began with "M...my—" and then a pause ensued where not one, but two sets of spotlight eyes found and stared at her. Still, she managed to continue, "Luminous, Sparkling, Lustrous—"

"Stop. Address us both as 'My Diamond,' please. You've come here to speak about your most recent mission..."

After the third time it happened and the offending gem left, Blue Diamond tapped Yellow upon the shoulder with a pinch at the end. "You know, White always lets them go on and on. I think one gem had even said up to ten adjectives in her presence and she just sat there, nodding."

"I know. It's all her fault that they do this. All of this groveling takes up so much time, and the only reason they've started is because you're with me today. Most of my court knows better."

"I don't know," Blue settled back in her seat. "If it makes them happy, perhaps they can keep two or three adjectives, but no more than that." Her lips bent with a playful curve. "Which three do you think I should allow, Yellow?"

"In referring to you?"

"Yes," Blue's cheeks saturated to navy and she took her gaze from her companion a moment. In doing so, she allotted Yellow a view of her long, thick lashes and the plumpness of her lips.

"You really are such a _modest, perfect lady._ "

Blue laughed. "I'm sorry. I wasn't being serious."

"Well," the elder Diamond opened another message and give it only a fraction of her attention. "If you really need to fish for compliments, I would choose radiant."

Blue waited a moment, "…and?"

" _And?_ You're only getting one."

"But there are two words left, Yellow." She contained a laugh. "I'm new to this. The reason I'm here is to learn what's proper."

" _Fine._ Flawless."

The younger of the pair had leaned in closer and made origami with her mouth in trying to prevent grinning with her teeth. "Flawless? Do you really think so, Yellow? Oh, what's a synonym for flawless?"

"I swear, both of you are idiots."

"Flawless…Flawless…"

Yellow felt Blue's greedy eyes tracing the features of her profile. Like careful fingers plucking a string, they moved over her nose, and lips, and brows. "Flawless…" Her high cheek bones. "Perhaps perfect, or…" Her equally long and dark lashes. "Maybe…"

"Why not beautiful?" Yellow finally turned to her and hit her with the hot embers of her eyes. "There. That should suffice. Tell me if you have a _real_ question and not anymore of this nonsense."

"I'll be certain to do so, My Diamond."

Yellow rolled her eyes and kept working.

Not long after that, Blue finished her study under White and became the sort of leader who allowed only up to three adjectives between My and Diamond. By the time Pink came along, Blue had ruled by herself for only a few thousand years, and the newest took all three of them by surprise. None of the gemologists had found her beforehand, but everyone on Homeworld felt as Pink emerged. As if exploding from Homeworld's abundance itself, she tore a hole at the very edge of the capital, from which the gems evacuated as the Diamonds watched.

Blue never took her gaze from the main screen of the meeting room. "Could there really be another Diamond so soon?"

Neither of the other two answered right away, merely watching in silence as an entire building fell. An announcement calling for evacuation played loudly over the speaker, and White covered her mouth with her middle and index fingers.

"I should go down there. No doubt she's going to emerge nude and all those gems are going to see…" She started toward the entrance, towering heels causing their own quakes in clacking across the floor. Both sides of the door opened and closed around her as the silent destruction ensued.

Every few seconds, the ground shook apart and shattered, taking the empty buildings down and leaving piles of wreckage where order and symmetry had stood before.

With every new pulse, Blue Diamond leaned further forward, centimeters at a time, until she had nearly become part of the scene herself. Though the red eye that had gone to watch provided none of the audio, the room shivered occasionally with this new Diamond's heartbeat, and Blue released a gasp.

"Was it this violent when I emerged?" Despite speaking to Yellow, she didn't look at her.

"You emerged in the middle of nowhere. It wasn't nearly this destructive."

The screen practically reflected on her face and appeared within the whites of her eyes. She blinked between the ground and the buildings crumbling until a bright light came into them, causing her lids to recede from each other. Shortly after the flash, the glow from the screen had turned Blue's skin purple, and Yellow turned to see another Diamond, standing naked amongst the rubble, in unabashed pink.

"Oh, look at her! She's cute."

On the screen, White had arrived with her cloak ready, but upon spotting her, Pink approached immediately and stole the older woman into an embrace. Her lips asked inaudibly, 'Are you a Diamond too?' The camera didn't show White responding, but her decorated hands went to clean her eyes as her body shook with both laughter and tears. Of course, White held Pink back, and the Diamonds watched as she covered her face in kisses, afflicting even the wild points of candy hair that invaded her cheeks.

The first words she spoke upon arriving in the meeting room were, "Wow, you must be Blue Diamond!" and hugged her, naked beneath White's extravagant cape. "You're very beautiful!" From the back end of this embrace, she saw Yellow and waved to her, causing Blue to laugh. "Are you Yellow Diamond?" Still holding Blue, she held out her arms to catch Yellow too. "You're all so pretty, I can't believe it!"

White was giggling and in tears. "You had better hug her, Yellow."

She did. Standing on the other side of Blue, Pink's arms took Yellow where they could and White joined at the very end, somehow holding all three at once.

Even from the beginning, Pink taped herself to Blue.

Of course she did. They were both so young.

Whenever Pink finished shadowing White for the day, she would usually meet with Blue and they would talk and talk like school girls. In the vast amount of free time they all used to have, Pink would sneak into Blue's room and Pink would sneak into hers. The laughter hung around well after they had made it, lingering like the scent of lovemaking or the constant flowing of the water from Blue's bath.

Yellow had caught them one day, tucked into a secluded corner.

Blue spoke to her softly, quietly, right into her ear.

"If I were your Diamond, what would you call me?" Those elegant hands touched Pink's neck, well-manicured nails drawing slender white lines on their way down.

Pink grinned and grasped her hips. Without hesitating, she said, "My Fabulous, Flawless, Lovely, Radiant, Beautiful, Sparkling, Resplendent, Illustrious," both began laughing, "Wonderful, Incredible, Diamond." She then pressed their lips together, both still shaking with mirth. Yellow turned away when Blue reached between Pink's legs. Whatever she had to say, she had forgotten.

It wasn't long before Pink received her first colony, and it wasn't long before she finished her time under White. With every day that passed, Pink and Blue inched nearer to one another during meetings, and shared even more private kisses in the hallways, and disappeared for days on end.

My Irresponsible, Infuriating Diamond.

Yellow saw it when they looked at one another, in the small glances they would make every few minutes. How either pair of their young eyes would fill with glitter, or sugar, or sparkles. Their cheeks would darken between little grins to one another—little grins that said they were totally going to fuck as soon as this meeting was over. Little grins that indicated neither was listening in the first place.

Yellow would notice love bites Blue tried to hide, and ones that Pink never bothered to.

Then one day, Pink left the Authority as suddenly as she had come into it. A rebellion she never got around to crushing took her life, allegedly, and the other three, two thirds of them weeping, went to finish the job for her.

My Dumbshit Diamond.

After corrupting a planet full of gems, White ran. Blue put on a veil to hide her face and insisted they leave White's color on the Authority insignia. "Please, Yellow," she had begged, "I know she left, but…at least she's still alive. We've already lost one Diamond, I—"

When the tears came, Yellow put down the chisel she would use to personally chip White's pathetic square from every Authority insignia on Homeworld.

From there, they rebuilt. Beneath the dawn of Era Two, Homeworld's population slowly began to rise again after falling for the first time in history, even though the gems emerged smaller and with fewer powers. Still, they went to work in an empire large enough to demand twice their numbers, just as the two remaining Diamonds managed enough for four of them.

My Goddamn Mother Fucking Diamond.

Days passed where neither Yellow nor Blue left their offices. Like suns, they remained fixed in one position with the world revolving around their order, gems sparkling even within the unpleasant lights from overhead. Mild bags beneath their eyes grew dark and severe as days stretched into weeks and layered under their lashes. Conversations became shorter and faster. Yellow Diamond electrocuted more gems.

My—

Meetings happened more infrequently, but Yellow and Blue still held them whenever important matters arose. Even on screen, she always wore that damned veil, keeping her eyes censored. Even then, fat tears would roll along her cheeks and build at her chin until ballooning and dropping to the floor. She usually didn't both with wiping them. Yellow's brows furrowed every time.

Once they had held a meeting after six consecutive days on Homeworld where hardly either of them left their control room, and had sat exactly at their old places, but two spaces sat empty. Air that would once swell with lively conversation, jokes and laughter transmitted business and pauses instead.

"We only have a few more minutes," Yellow's voice sounded tired. "Do you have anything you would like to add?"

Another quiet stretched its sore limbs between them. Both Diamonds could almost hear its joints pop as it kept going, but never felt any better. Between the humming of the screen and the suffering silence, Blue's face contorted. For the purpose of that meeting, she had removed the fabric from over her eyes, but pulled it over again as soon as her lungs worked unevenly and her lips bent enough out of shape.

Yellow had seen her walking around that way, moving slowly like a phantom and writhing in the hallways, falling against a wall as she choked her mouth in her palms and tried to stifle the weeping. It possessed her every time, no matter what she did. Perhaps she had seen something too familiar, or ran into a certain scent that made the memories come over her like a pall. And in her sheet, she struggled against herself, hiding her face from the gems in her court who wept with her. They saluted and stood in place as Blue howled in pain, unable to speak and unable to move. Eventually, she would pull herself together and keep walking, sorry court members in tow behind her, each crying.

Every joint in Yellow's hands hurt.

She released a long sigh.

"I'm sorry—" Blue choked. "We used to have such a lovely time here—"

"That Era is over, Blue."

She only wept harder, nearly covering her face entirely beneath her veil, but she couldn't mask the smell of her tears, and it only muffled her cries. In fact, the fabric smelled heavily of salt and resounded with smothered screams.

Yellow Diamond stood up, " _Who are you hiding from?_ " and marched over to Blue.

"Yellow—"

"Enough, already!" She came to the end of her journey and stood before Blue, grasped one corner of the veil and tore it to stardust. Blue stared at Yellow with her waves of tears receding. Her eyes remained damp, but accused Yellow nonetheless, and as she hiccupped away the last of it, the goddess of sadness came to speak.

" _How dare you?_ " An edge entered her voice that had gone too soft for too long.

"I can't watch you cry under that idiotic blanket anymore! I need you with me, and this isn't accomplishing _anything!_ "

Blue gulped and wiped her raw eyes, pouted and turned her head.

"I hate what's happened too." Yellow dropped her arms. "But we can't spend any more time being this upset. Look at you! You're so miserable, you can't even speak! Your gems need your guidance, Blue, and I need _you_ to guide _them_ , because I can't do this alone. I'm begging you, stop crying and _talk to me._ "

Blue looked up and swallowed the pain. Yellow offered her hand, which she accepted and came to her feet, taking her into an embrace.

Blue's hair brushed against the other Diamond's cheek, rustling slightly as she made the space between them disappear. "Oh, Yellow. I never wanted any of this." She leaned and gave the golden woman some of her weight. "I miss both of them."

To that, Yellow set her fingers adrift in Blue's hair and accepted her pressure. The machines commenced their humming in the background of that lonely room while the golden goddess kissed the blue one on the cheek. "We still have one another."

Blue's nails gripped at Yellow and she moved back only a few centimeters to look her in those flaming pots of molten gold, still bright and pure as the first time she had seen them.

Underneath, wretched bags had grown that mirrored her own. Yellow blinked heavily, once, and Blue kissed her on the mouth.

She swallowed Yellow's gasp and licked at her lips, clutching onto her with enough force to buckle her slender legs. When Blue practically bit her, the other Diamond finally accepted her tear-flavored tongue, trembling. In holding her up, Yellow nearly collapsed, bending and breaking for the gem who covered her like a sheet and who possessed every corner of her noisy mouth. In vowels only, Yellow moaned. She took a handful of white hair while her wild eyes rolled back and Blue's tongue rolled in.

The goddess of sadness trapped her and only allowed her to go after three entire minutes.

She had nearly thrown Yellow back. They stood several steps apart.

Wiping her lips and the few involuntary tears, Blue said, "I'm sorry. I have to go back to work," and turned to exit.

For a moment, Yellow stood in place and watched her go. The doors opened and closed, and with the mechanical sound of their movement, she disappeared, having summoned another veil around her.

Yellow remained still apart from wiping the saliva from her lips.

My Radiant, Flawless, Miserable Diamond.

My Blue Diamond.


	6. Exhaustion

All the exhaustion had settled in the front of her face, and the back of her neck, and the bends of her body. Yellow regarded her reflection in the screen. The bags beneath her eyes possessed bags of their own, like a stack of luggage going to the airport. Her white had gone pink and she moved her focus to the time in the corner of the screen.

Yellow hadn't left her office in five days.

Due to the time, she had sent her Pearl back to her chambers and asked her to return after a number of hours, but they might meet sooner than that.

In an odd moment of passivity, she leaned back in her chair, filled her chest with air, and after a few moments pressed the button that called Blue.

The communicator rang several times before anyone answered, and that gem was the other Diamond's Pearl, who saluted nervously after some fumbling.

"Where is Blue Diamond?"

"I'm sorry, Madame," despite the low volume of her voice, the sound came through clearly from Yellow's screen. The little gem bowed before she continued, "My Diamond isn't in at the moment. I believe she wanted some privacy."

Yellow narrowed her fierce eyes. "Well, tell her I'm taking a break when she _conveniently_ returns, and that I can't be the only one watching over Homeworld." She hung up before she had even finished and then held down her message system's power button. A flurry of incoming mission reports, updates, and documents arrived at the top of the feed, until the very second that light cut out and the machine stopped humming.

With steam being her only source of fuel, Yellow Diamond stomped to the warp pad, disappeared in the bright light, and then stomped into her chambers, crossing her arms as she moved past the entrance, into the salon, and finally into her bedroom. Her Pearl sat in the corner, reading, but ran the moment the ground began to quake.

"I don't believe this—" Yellow collapsed onto her bed, a firm pad exactly her size with one perfectly square pillow. Covering her face with her palms, she didn't bother removing her gloves or even her heels, and crashed just as she was, exhaling upset ozone into the air.

"I didn't expect you back, My Diamond."

"Get out."

Pearl answered, gulping, "Yes, Ma'am" and left immediately, closing the door behind her.

With Pearl gone, the only four bodies in the room were the bed, the enormous chair in the corner, the empress, and the light dangling above her, which remained on. Yellow uncovered her eyes and sighed at it, watching it swing back and forth from the momentum of her entrance only a few seconds ago.

Despite its brightness, and how it burned even more irritated veins into her eyes, Yellow didn't move her limbs. She didn't get up to call Pearl, nor did she leave her bed to extinguish it herself. Having already laid down, all of her emotions condensed into apathy and Yellow Diamond shut her heavy lids and immediately lost consciousness. The empress's aching body grew painfully still.

Even minutes later, when the door opened again with a quick pop and the lights dimmed, the unconscious body didn't open her eyes.

The shuffling of long robes, however, caused her to nearly snap her neck with how quickly she turned.

"What are you doing here?" Yellow's accusation grew muffled inside her half-conscious mouth. In fact, she may not have been conscious at all, as the reaction happened entirely by reflex. Still, her cloudy vision met up with Blue Diamond's pink-rimmed eyes. " _Have you been crying again?_ "

"I came to check on you." The visitor drew closer, until standing over Yellow, who could hardly maintain eye contact. She merely opened and closed her lids, slowly. Her breath remained sleepy and slow the entire time. "Oh, Yellow." Blue let down her hood. "You look exhausted."

" _Go watch over Homeworld._ There's no use in having you here."

"It will be alright, for a little while." She wiped beneath her nose with the back of her hand that had then descended upon the other Diamond, the same way sleep had a few minutes before. Blue covered Yellow, her cloak obscuring them both as they lied upon the golden woman's too-small, too-hard bed.

She exhaled as Blue's long lashes invaded her cheek. They felt damp and smelt of salt water.

With Blue on top of her, Yellow couldn't get air into her lungs. She had given it all up, and with a breathless sigh in her mouth alone, wrapped her arms around Blue. She accepted both her weight and her embrace as they sank further into the firm surface of her mattress. The White hair that framed Blue's face caused Yellow's skin to tickle where it touched but she couldn't move to fix it. Yellow had spent the last of her power placing her arms around Blue.

They remained extremely still beneath the veil, like two lovers embracing under an onslaught of hot volcanic ash. Yellow stopped breathing and beneath Blue, finally went to sleep.


	7. Strangers

One time, strangely, they had ended up alone together. Despite usually arriving a few minutes late, Pink came early that day and sat inside the meeting room with Yellow, both silent with their hands resting against the table.

"Yellow?" Pink started. "Can I ask you something?"

"You already have."

"Oh," she laughed. "Sorry. I was just wondering how you felt about Blue."

Yellow elected to stare instead of responding.

"I mean—" Her face grew as florid as a garden of roses. "It's alright if you like her. I just wanted to make sure we're on good terms."

The golden woman turned her head. "I don't need your permission to like who I please."

"Oh, I know. I wasn't trying to make it seem like—"

The incoming glare cut the words right out of her throat.

Her hair was so goddamn stupid-looking.

"I just wanted you to know that Blue loves you, and so do I, you know. I don't want you to feel terrible or anything. I really love both of you, and I wanted to make sure you were alright. If you want to talk about anything…"

"I'm fine, Pink."

Just then, White Diamond came in and startled them both with the sound of the doors. They looked to her, faces the same amount of serious, and all three paused in the quiet.

White rose both of her brows. "Pink, was Yellow harassing you?"

"Oh, no," she followed with a laugh. "I think I might have been harassing her."

"Nonsense," White said, and as soon as Blue arrived the meeting began.

Yellow didn't cry at her funeral. Standing between White and Blue Diamond, she stared at Pink's image projected upon the wall. She embraced Blue in the photo, with a big, dumb smile stretching carelessly across her face. White must have taken the picture because Yellow didn't recall this moment. They hadn't found her shards.

Homeworld's anthem played in the background and Blue sobbed. Nearly her entire face hid beneath her newly-donned veil as she clamped one hand over her mouth. On the other side, White had done the same. She didn't weep as much, but she too, tried to hide her face.

Yellow looked again to Pink, and without speaking, took her fellow Diamonds' free hands. Both only cried harder, smashed her gloved fingers together, and came to lean upon her shoulders. Despite the pressure, Yellow stood consistently upright, even beneath the heavy loss of Pink's idiotic grin.

She just had to get herself killed.

Millenia passed. White left. Homeworld ran low on resources and Blue cried and never stopped crying. Anytime they met, she had tears in her eyes.

Pink's goofy smile flashed for a moment.

She just had to emerge.

Yellow, after all of those thousands of years, lied in her crater of a bed. It had flattened beneath the weight of two Diamonds, one of which had left earlier that morning. Despite having slept for the first time in eons, Yellow still couldn't move. Even worse, she clamped her hand over her mouth as tears threatened to take the corners of her eyes. She choked, throat contracting harder every time she tried to make it stop. When the water went to escape the prison of her lashes like a thousand tiny criminals, she managed to prevent them for a moment, only to have each come back again like an enormous wave from a savage sea, and Yellow exhausted herself further in pushing them back. She prevented the tears and her throat got her; she fixed her throat and the tears spilled. Her arm grew tired from hiding the pathetic shape of her mouth and a sharp, unpleasant sound emerged from it.

Pearl knocked on the door.

"My Diamond," she used the speaker system. "Blue Diamond is calling to speak to you. Would you like to answer?"

Another ugly breath came out of her.

"My Diamond?"

It wouldn't stop. None of it would ever stop.

Yellow ran out of energy and sank further into her bent mattress. The choking quit; her arms came down, and the tears flowed forth.

Without an answer the second time, Pearl opened the door and peeked her head in, seeing her Diamond only briefly before closing it again. Yellow didn't bother with calling to Pearl or scolding her. She had barely seen her come in through flooding eyes in the first place.

Minutes passed and Yellow wept. It spilled from her, as if she were to expel every last drop from a jar that had grown too full. She clenched her fists and squeezed herself into a ball, gasped and wept. Her body turned the air to steam and water, becoming a voluntary action as natural as a heart beating or blood flowing.

Not long had passed when the doors opened again.

"My Diamond," her Pearl called. "Blue Diamond is here to see you."

Yellow didn't reply but buried her face immediately into her pillow. Her body still made those wretched noises, dry gasping and cacophonous cries that escaped even into the fabric of her bed.

" _Go—_ " Yellow managed.

She felt Blue standing just outside her door, probably looking on with sad, wet eyes of her own.

"I can't leave you like this." Blue stepped forward and kneeled. Her hand landed upon Yellow's shoulder while her fingers gave a delicate squeeze. "What's wrong?"

" _What's wrong?_ " Yellow turned to look at her, words choppy out of her unstable mouth. "Everything is a mess—and it's never going to stop being a mess—" Another unpleasant gasp came, as well as the next wave of tears. They spilled onto the pillow as she gathered enough composure to speak. "And no matter what I do, you're never going to love me, _so why don't you just leave?_ " Her expression contorted, bent over backward, and Yellow suffocated again in the pillow.

Blue didn't answer, but she did caress the exposed skin of Yellow's upper cheek and eventually moved to the nape of her neck. Her heavy lips afflicted where they could, making Yellow weep a little harder each time they made contact.

"Yellow," the goddess of sadness spoke almost directly into her ear. "Will you let me hold you?"

" _No—_ "

"Please? I would really like to." She brushed past some of that golden hair, even though its coarseness threatened to slice the first layer of her skin. Blue tucked it behind her ear and kissed her cheek. "Let me hold you."

Seconds died, and without a response, Blue slipped onto the bed and stole the other Diamond, sliding one arm beneath her and another around her torso until they met behind her back. Blue squeezed and flipped Yellow on top of her, allowing her full weight to push her into the mattress as she kissed the crying woman's soggy cheeks.

"I can't remember the last time I've seen you cry. I don't know if you ever have."

" _Don't be stupid._ " Yellow's breath was still uneven and Blue matched it by laughing.

"There she is." Their gems almost touched and Blue brought her in closer by placing her hand at the back of Yellow's head. "You know, it breaks my heart to see you like this, but I think you're well aware of that, so you take great care in making sure I don't see it. You make sure _no one_ sees it. You're so good at holding us all together, but maybe you need to break down too." Blue kissed her cheek. "I can't believe how tough you are."

Yellow finally held Blue back. Her weeping calmed.

"Why don't you think I love you?"

A gulp passed along Yellow's throat that Blue felt come and go. The last of her tears escaped and plump lips stole them.

"I'm sorry that I'm still not over Pink."

"Will you ever be?"

Blue paused a moment, and continued kissing away her water. "Perhaps not entirely. It's hard to say, but I can't forget her, Yellow, as much as you want me to…I can promise, however, that I love you just as much."

Yellow lifted herself up to look Blue in the face. Finally seeing her, Blue reached up and touched the trails of abuse the tears had etched into her skin. She had cried off her makeup, but the fire of her beautiful irises still burned. Even in drowning, they glowed.

Yellow closed her lashes and gave into Blue's touch. "Do you really love me as much as—"

"I do." Blue's thumb traced her lover's lips. "I love you differently, I think. It might not be exactly the same, but it's just as strong. I admire qualities in you that she didn't have. It's just that no one can replace her, but that doesn't mean that I can't love you. I bless my stars that I still have you, Yellow."

Those burning eyes opened again. "I began to develop feelings for you from the first moment I saw you." She sniffed, and fell back into Blue's embrace, where numerous kisses awaited her.

"I never knew. Even from the first moment? I was covered in dirt…"

"I know."

Blue lips touched her cheek.

"You were so cute, wrapped up in White's cape. You had no idea how ridiculous the whole situation was. Even at that moment, I would have done anything for you."

"Yellow, I'm sorry. I had no idea."

"I know you didn't."

Blue connected their mouths and they ended up kissing for an entire minute, holding onto one another and tugging gently on contrasting colored clothes. When they separated, Yellow had produced a few more tears and expelled them, staring right into Blue's sad eyes.

She cleared them again. "Why don't we go to my bath? After all this crying, I think some relaxation would do you well."

"What about—"

"Homeworld will be fine for a few more hours. I'm sure you don't want to make it a habit, but perhaps we could go this once?"

Yellow thought a moment. "Alright," and kissed Blue with a little electricity.

"Be careful," she laughed. "I don't want you electrocuting me."

The two went to the bath together, where Blue took care in undressing Yellow and brought her into the water. Throughout the bath, those poor eyes still drooped and Yellow didn't speak often, but Blue tended to her. She lathered her up with soap and rinsed it away, and rubbed the knots from her lean arms and aching back. They kissed one another where they could reach.

After a few hours, Blue held Yellow on her lap, embracing her slender body and all its points. Trailing her fingers across her guest's back, Blue said, "I love you, Yellow."

"I love you too," came the sleepy reply.

And neither regarded the time.


End file.
